FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
AFS TRINITY TODAY FILES PATENT DISCLOSING TECHNOLOGY
FOR 250 MPG ‘EXTREME HYBRID’ PLUG-IN CAR
Gasoline and electricity cost expected to be $8 per week
versus $36 for gasoline for the average American driver today
SEATTLE, May 4, 2006 . . . AFS Trinity Power Corporation today filed its patent application disclosing the company’s new technology for an Extreme Hybrid™ car capable of carrying the average American motorist more than 250 miles on a single gallon of gasoline or ethanol.
The Extreme Hybrid™ will plug into a house’s electrical current overnight to run without gasoline or ethanol for the 40 miles that the average American drives each day. For longer trips, the vehicle will operate as a conventional hybrid that efficiently burns gasoline or ethanol.
(Above left): Fig. 4 of Patent Filing "Plug-in Hybrid with Fast Energy Storage." 5/5/2006
(Bottom right): AFS Trinity Concept Car – Rear View
“The U.S. Department of Transportation estimates that the average American drives 300 miles per week,” AFS Trinity CEO Edward W. Furia said. “Most days Americans
drive 40 miles or less. At $3 a gallon, this costs about $48 a week for a conventional
20 mpg car and $36 if the car can get 25 mpg. The most efficient conventional hybrids
get about 50 mpg which means $19 a week. By comparison, the Extreme Hybrid™ will
use less than $8 per week total for fuel and electricity.”
UK-Based Ricardo to help with XH™ drive train
AFS Trinity plans to build the XH™ drive train with the help of UK-based Ricardo plc, a
leading supplier of automotive design and engineering to the world’s major carmakers.
AFS Trinity and Ricardo have signed a mutually exclusive Technology Partnership
Agreement to work together to develop plug-in hybrid technology. With sufficient
funding they expect that XH™ demonstration vehicles could be in the hands of fleet
owners in two years and could be licensed for mass production by car makers in three
years.
The Patent and the Technology
The AFS Trinity patent filing discloses that Fast Energy Storage™ technology,
including ultracapacitors, controllers and power electronics, will enable the Extreme
Hybrid™ to overcome the limitations of the energy storage components of
conventional hybrids and other plug-in designs.
“This technology will permit a car to travel the entire 40 miles of an average
American’s daily driving in all-electric mode, without giving up rapid acceleration or the
ability to travel at highway speeds, all without burning a drop of gasoline,” Furia said.
The patent filing also discloses that idle XH™ vehicles will be capable of sending
power back into the grid through a vehicle to grid – V2G – subsystem, which will help
stabilize the power grid and reduce XH™ owners’ cost of electricity.
Ownership Costs
“The Extreme Hybrid™ won’t only cost less to operate on a daily basis, it will also be
the first hybrid that will save enough money from reduced operating costs to more
than offset the higher purchase price of the car,” added Furia. “In fact, over five years,
we estimate that the XH™ owner will be $11,000 ahead and, over 10 years, $22,000
ahead.”
Filling up once every 10 weeks
“The advantages to the environment and our independence from foreign oil are
obvious, but the reason we believe consumers will want this car is because they will
save money and because the performance of the XH™ will be no different than that of
conventional cars,” Furia said.
“To recharge the Extreme Hybrid™ for your daily driving you will need to plug in your
car to house current every night, but the average American will only have to fill up with
gasoline or ethanol once every 10 weeks or so unless they take a longer trip.”
About Ricardo
With its North American headquarters in Van Buren Twp., Mich., Ricardo has been a
world-leading vehicle system and powertrain technology provider for automotive
manufacturers, heavy-duty manufacturers and tier one suppliers since 1915.
Ricardo is the premium global deep-content engineering and management consulting
partner for automotive, commercial vehicle and related industry sectors. The company
provides complete engineering services from strategy through product concept, design
release and validation, and all phases of the product lifecycle. Ricardo technical
expertise lies in powertrain and driveline, vehicle engineering, hybrid and fuel cell
technologies, controls and electronics, niche volume manufacturing and advanced
simulation software.
Ricardo is committed to excellence and industry leadership in people, technology and
knowledge. A public company based in the U.K., Ricardo plc posted sales of $272
million in fiscal year 2005 and is a part of the FTSE techMark 100 index – a group of
innovative technology companies listed on the London Stock Exchange. For more
information, visit www.ricardo.com.
More about AFS Trinity Power
AFS Trinity was formed through the merger of American Flywheel Systems, Inc. and
Trinity Flywheel Power in 2000. The company is headquartered in Bellevue, Wash.
with an Engineering Center in Livermore, California. AFS Trinity’s research and
development has been funded mostly by private sources, but also through contracts
with NASA, U.S. DOT, U.S. DOE, as well as Army, Navy and Air Force prime
contractors.
Addendum about the US and International PCT Patent Filings
The schematic accompanying this announcement is Figure 4 of 9 figures that accompanied the patent filing to illustrate its claims. We chose this figure to illustrate the announcement because it closely approximates the broadest description of the technology, depicting a series configuration of the drivetrain. The other eight figures in the patent filings depict various other configurations and claims, including, by way of example and not as a limitation, a parallel configuration, a four wheel drive configuration for SUV’s, a mechanical instead of “fly by wire” configuration, a vehicle to grid sub system, etc. Such other details and claims of the patent will not be publicly revealed until they are published under international patent law, which will occur six months after the filing date of the international Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) application (filed on May 4, 2006). The PCT secures the company’s right to file a patent application in each foreign country that is a member of the PCT within 18 months of the filing date of the PCT application, thus delaying the costs of translations and fees for filing in each foreign country until November, 2008. Most of the world’s industrialized countries are members of the PCT. A list of the PCT member nations can be found at www.wipo.org.
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Some statements in this news release are forward-looking. These statements may
be identified by the use of words such as "will," "expects," "believes," "targets,"
"intends," and words of similar import. Actual results may vary depending on
circumstances both within and outside the control of the Company including market
acceptance of products, technology development cycles and other risk factors. AFS
Trinity Power Corporation takes no responsibility for updating any forward-looking
statements made in this release.
Extreme Hybrid™, XH™, Fast Energy™, and Fast Energy Storage™
are trademarks pending of AFS Trinity Power Corporation.
© 2005 AFS Trinity Power Corp. - Patents Pending
All Rights Reserved.
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